Dear Mr President

Dear Mr. President,

I live in the South, though I am from Michigan. We were raised by a liberal hippie single mother, who heated our home with wood, hauled water in buckets for us to bathe and wash dishes with and has also stood by her morals rather than her masters degree. I never related entirely with the liberal values (I like pro choice and capitol punishment) I am the grey matter that makes up most of America, the in-betweens. What I did learn to hang onto was optimism. When asked why I was voting for Obama a second term it was this answer I gave, “I believe he has the best intentions, he may not have been able to do everything he hoped for but I believe he has good intentions. That is the type of man I want in office”

This month I am considering closing my business just in its second quarter of existence. Its not much, not multi million dollar bail out material, or a union that will lose thousands jobs. It is just everything to me. It is a silly business, one derived on wants not needs, the kind of thing people stop spending money on in an economic  down time. The bottom line? I’m in the red-Eight hundred dollars. Thats all, its everything to me though. It is the difference between choosing to keep my job, or my rental home. Paying to have a phone at the business or for my daughters string instrument we lease, this month. My shop made 120 dollars this week. 5 years ago I was averaging an income that put me at 40,000 a year. Still just a scrape above poverty but to me, someone who has always lived poor I was comfortable. I’m not religious, if I had been I may have prayed to god. Instead I found myself glancing over at your picture on my bulletin board, thinking C’mon Mr President get going with those good intentions. Driving home hours later empty pockets I remembered my grandmothers favorite saying, about the road to hell being paved with good intentions and laughed bitterly the rest of the way home. In spite of it all, I still have a small amount of optimism so c’mon Mr President get going with those good intentions.